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Dave Bowman
Category:Characters | aliases = Star Child | film = | franchise = | image = | notability = | type = | race = | gender = | base of operations = Discovery One spacecraft | known relatives = Betty Fernandez (wife) | status = | born = 1966 2001: A Space Odyssey (novel); Chapter Eighteen | died = 2001 (conjectural) | 1st appearance = 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) | final appearance = 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) | actor = Keir Dullea }} Dave Bowman is the central character featured in the 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Played by actor Keir Dullea, he also appeared in the 1984 sequel 2010: The Year We Make Contact. The character is also presented in the 2001: A Space Odyssey novel as well as its sequel 2010: Odyssey Two. Dave Bowman is presented as an astronaut who encounters an alien monolith that causes his body to evolve into a higher state of being. Biography Space Odyssey Dave Bowman was an astronaut and the first captain of the exploratory space vessel Discovery One In 2001, he was assigned to a mission known as Project: Jupiter - a journey that would take the ship to the planet Jupiter where it was expected to take up a permanent position as an artificial satellite. The official mission briefing was scheduled for one-hundred days, wherein he and his crew would map and study the world and transmit their findings back to Earth. After the mission was completed, he was expected to enter artificial hibernation and wait to be re-acquisitioned in the year 2006. However, the true mission of the Discovery One was one that only a handful of people back on Earth were even aware of. In the film, he was sent to Jupiter. In the novel, his mission was to the planet Saturn. His colleague, Doctor Francis "Frank" Poole as well as the rest of the crew and even Bowman himself were unaware of the true nature of their mission. Only the Discovery One 's onboard computer system, an artificial intelligence known as the HAL 9000, was privy to the specifics of the mission. As HAL was programmed to be deceptive concerning the parameters of the mission, this led to a conflict in the computer's logic circuits, forcing it to act against the interest of the ship's crew. Three weeks into their flight to Jupiter, HAL informed Bowman and Poole that the AE-35 unit, a parabolic antenna that controlled all communication to Earth, was going to cease functioning within seventy-two hours. Bowman and Poole piloted and EVA pod outside of the Discovery One to switch out the antenna, but upon observing it, determined that AE-35 was not malfunctioning at all and that HAL was wrong. Bowman sent a message back to Mission Control on Earth who then told him that the HAL 9000 was in error and could no longer be considered reliable. Once they were back on the ship, Bowman and Poole had a private conversation within one of the EVA pods in the hangar bay. Since their discussion concerned HAL's operating record, they didn't want the computer monitoring their conversation. However, HAL's video monitors possessed the ability to read lips and was able to determine what Bowman and Poole had said to one another. HAL realized that Poole intended on deactivating the computer. Poole took the EVA pod outside the ship and attempted to replace the AE-35 unit himself. HAL took control of the pod and angled it towards Poole, severing his oxygen hose and setting him adrift. Bowman, not realizing the computer was responsible for the incident, took another pod in an attempt to rescue him. While he was gone, Hal terminated the life functions of the remainder of the crew who were in suspended animation. It then stranded Bowman outside the ship, refusing to let him back inside. Dave was forced to re-enter the ship through an emergency airlock and sought to disconnect HAL's systems. The computer protested and responded to the threat by opening the airlocks, venting oxygen into space. To escape the increase in cabin pressure, Dave made his way into a sealed emergency shelter, which contained an isolated oxygen supply and spare spacesuit. 2001: A Space Odyssey (novel) .]] The strains of losing his crew and his treacherous space walk were beginning to take it's toll on Bowman's psyche. Despite this however, he succeeded in removing the crystal chips that powered HAL's systems and the computer was rendered inert. When HAL was disconnected, a pre-recorded message from Mission Control came online, outlining the specifics of the Jupiter mission. The mission involved investigating evidence of an extraterrestrial race significantly older and more advanced than that of man. Bowman spent months in space piloting the Discovery One manually with minimal supplies or support. As he approached Jupiter's orbit, he encountered the evidence indicated in the mission briefing - a giant, rectangular Monolith floating through space. The Monolith was in fact a star gate, which dragged Dave's EVA pod into it, pulling him through spacetime and depositing him in a distant galaxy. To ease the terror he experienced from the surreal images assaulting his senses, the Monolith created a facsimile of a luxurious bedroom with Louis XVI-style decor. Bowman fell asleep and as he slept, his mind and memories were separated from his corporeal body, elevating him to a new state of consciousness. Dave Bowman was literally reborn as a star child, and took the form of a giant, human fetus housed within a translucent caul. As the star child, Bowman was an immortal celestial being, who could survive and travel through outer space without the need of a ship. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Upon reaching Earth, Bowman used his power to destroy an orbiting nuclear missile, absorbing all of the energy into his body. 2001: A Space Odyssey (novel) Odyssey Two Although no longer human by any standards, Bowman still felt emotional ties to his human life. In the year 2010, the Star Child visited Earth where he manifested himself before his ex-wife, Betty Fernandez, and later visited his terminally ill mother by appearing on a television screen. The Star Child began interacting more with the alien intelligence(s) responsible for the creation of the Monoliths. Under their guidance, he sent his form to Europa, the sixth moon of Jupiter. He observed primitive aquatic life forms beginning to emerge beneath the moon's ice shelf. Still guided by the alien intelligence, he then journeyed to Jupiter itself and initiated a process by which the planet quickly began conversion into a mini-sun. Afterward, he discovered the abandoned shell of Discovery One and assumed his human form so he could contact Doctor Heywood Floyd via HAL's communication system. To convince Floyd that he was actually Dave Bowman, he appeared to him as a humanoid-shaped field of dust. In the film he was perceived as a ghost. He warned Floyd and the crew of the Alexei Leonov to leave the orbit of Jupiter within fifteen days (2 days in the movie) or else they would be destroyed. As the transformation of Jupiter took place, Bowman gave one final message via HAL, warning the human race not to attempt future contact with Europa, where the new mini-sun had now melted the oceans and ushered in a new era of evolution. 2010: The Year We Make Contact2010: Odyssey Two Final Odysseys Following the mass ecological change on Europa, Dave Bowman's essence became fused with the Monolith left behind on the moon. The computer processing program of the HAL 9000, also survived the destruction of Discovery One and was merged with the Monolith as well. Dave and HAL fused together to form a composite entity that called itself Halman and existed inside the Monolith, monitoring the progress of Europa for the next 940 years. 2061: Odyssey Three In the year 3001, Halman discovered that Dave's Discovery One colleague, Frank Poole, had actually survived being excised from the spacecraft into the vastness of outer space. The dramatic environmental changer flash-froze Doctor Poole and it wasn't until the 31st century that the technology to safely thaw him out was developed. Halman and Poole learned that the ancient aliens behind the Monoliths were preparing to destroy the Earth, so they conspired to create a virus that was transmitted through all of the Monoliths, destroying them. Halman managed to upload its combined personalities into a petabyte-capacity holographic 3D storage medium and thus survived the disintegration of the monoliths. However, that medium was infected with the virus in the process and was subsequently sealed by human scientists in Pico Vault, where it will presumably be stored until such time as humans (or others) choose to disinfect and revive it. 3001: The Final Odyssey Notes & Trivia * * It is important to note that there are several continuity discrepancies between both the novels and the films. It has been established by Arthur C. Clarke]that each of the novels take place in an alternate reality from one another, though there is no clear evidence of this in any of the books themselves. Arthur C. Clarke; The Lost Worlds of 2001; 1972 * In an early draft of the 2001: A Space Odyssey novel, the AE-35 unit detached itself from the Discovery One and Dave Bowman had to use his EVA pod to retrieve it. Arthur C. Clark; Forward to the Millennium Edition; September, 2000; Penguin Press; Roc; XVII'' See also * 2001: A Space Odyssey * 2001: A Space Odyssey images * 2001: A Space Odyssey characters * 2001: A Space Odyssey miscellaneous External Links * * Dave Bowman at Wikipedia * Dave Bowman at the Holosuite * Dave Bowman at the 2001 Wiki References ---- Category:2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)/Characters Category:2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984)/Characters Category:1966/Character births Category:2001/Character deaths Category:Keir Dullea Category:Characters with biographies